“Crane” type arcade games have been around for many years. A crane is supported in a housing and manipulated by a player to center the crane over a prize. The player then actuates a motor that lowers the crane and attempts to pick up the prize using the crane. If the player has successfully positioned the crane, the claw, vacuum, or other pick-up mechanism may acquire the prize and bring it to a retrieval bin where the player can collect the prize. The prior art is rife with such games, although advancements are continuously made due to the popularity of such games.
One aspect of the game that has not received much attention is the manner in which the crane is maneuvered over the playing field prior to lowering the pick-up device. In the past, a gear or worm drive system moved the crane on an X, Y and Z axes. Changes in the types of targets from plush animals and heavier prizes to tickets, cards, and other lighter targets reduced the need for a powerful gear or worm drive. Tickets, gift cards, post cards, or objects that are very light weight are easily moved and do not require a heavy duty drive system. In the vacuum crane games, prizes can be stacked in central locations so the crane rarely reaches a stall position. An example of a two pulley crane game is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,234,487 entitled Crane Game Claw Gauge, the contents of which are fully incorporated herein by reference.
The aforementioned drive mechanism used a gear or a worm drive, and switches are used to stop or control the direction of the movement of the pick-up mechanism. The pick-up mechanism goes left/right (X), forward/back (Y), and up/down (Z) using motors, gears, and switches. At the end of each path there is an electrical or mechanical switch that causes the motors to stop or change directions. Since there are three motors, that results in at least six switches (one for each direction of travel), with two to three wires per switch. The electronic control system for the many wires, plugs, and connectors, all subject to wear and malfunction, results in high maintenance of the games. This mechanism is unduly complicated and a bad switch, or mal-adjusted one, can burn out a motor, as can defective or damaged wires, plugs, and connectors that results in a non-working game and loss of revenue to the operator.
The alternative is to use a clutch mechanism in place of the switches. The clutches are more reliable, but they are more complicated to build, incorporate more moving parts, and are more expensive than the switches. This added cost of the game is also a limiting factor on how small the game can be made, since the clutches are much larger and take up more space than the switches. An alternative to this system would benefit the art.